The Mid-Prairie School Board approved the hiring of a new principal for East Elementary at its meeting on Monday night.

Kristan Hunter, the district’s current Curriculum and Instruction Leader, was named the new principal for East Elementary, beginning in the 2025-26 school year. Prior to taking her current position, she was a 1st grade teacher at Mid-Prairie for 16 years.

Superintendent Brian Stone described the hiring process, emphasizing that Hunter’s candidacy was kept confidential, even from some of the teachers who were in attendance at the school board meeting that night, “That consisted of 16 staff members, six parents and four administrators with various committees… With the staff, they were expected to run their first ten-minute staff meeting, and the staff had the opportunity to answer questions through a google form… The committees made a decision by the points they’re able to generate based off the questions and rating the candidates on how they answered the questions, not ranking the candidates.”

Hunter’s hiring was passed unanimously as part of the board’s consent agenda.